particles & debris (5)

14 May 2019

Survey of Suspended Solids in Irrigation Water of Ornamental Plant Nurseries and Effects of Filtration

Jinsheng Huang and Paul Fisher (University of Florida)

Filtration to remove suspended particles can be a significant investment for greenhouse and nursery business, especially when irrigating with recirculated or surface water sources. Filtration to remove particles from irrigation water is a key first step underlying other aspects of water treatment, to remove pathogen spores, material that can clog irrigation lines, and reduce demand for sanitizing chemicals. Objectives for this research included characterizing the particle size distribution and amount of suspended solids in irrigation water sources from a survey of plant nurseries, before and after filtration.

Read the complete research article or read a brief summary:

Suspended Solids in Irrigation Water Summary (21 KB)

24 Oct 2017

2017 California Nursery Conference: Conclusion

Brett Cregg (Michigan State University), Paul Fisher (University of Florida), Sarah White (Clemson University), Charlie Hall (Texas A&M), and Bruno Pitton, Darren Haver, Grant Johnson, Loren Oki (University of California)

This conference, held on July 27, 2017 in Irvine, CA, focused on Water Management in Nursery and Greenhouse Production. The Clean WateR3 team presented their research studies. The conclusion of the conference dealt with recycling water: economics, monitoring quality, managemet of nutrients and agrichemicals, and pathogens and biofilm. The topics covered are:

3-1ImpactsRecycledWateronPlantPhysiologyandgrowth (1175 KB)
3-2BiofilmManagement (3947 KB)
3-3BiologicalTreatmentofRunoff (4394 KB)
3-4SlowSandFilters (2204 KB)
3-5WaterRecyclingEconomics (1245 KB)

21 Mar 2017

The Cost of Filtration

Raudales, R. (University of Connecticut), Fisher, P. (University of Florida), Hall, C.(Texas A&M University)

Filtration is an important step in capture and re-use of irrigation water.  This article presents filtration systems, the initial cost, and the cost to treat 1,000 gallons of water.  Filtration is the first article in the three-part series of water management in GPN magazine. 

The Cost of Filtration (1) can be found in the link below.

http://www.gpnmag.com/article/the-cost-of-filtration/

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Description of research activities

A national team of scientists is working to encourage use of alternative water resources by the nation’s billion-dollar nursery and floriculture industry has been awarded funds for the first year of an $8.7 million, five year US Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture –Specialty Crop Research Initiative competitive grant.

The team will develop and apply systems-based solutions to assist grower decision making by providing science-based information to increase use of recycled water.  This award from the NIFA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative is managed by Project Director Sarah White of Clemson University.  She leads a group of 21 scientists from nine U.S. institutions.

Entitled “Clean WateR3 - Reduce, Remediate, Recycle – Enhancing Alternative Water Resources Availability and Use to Increase Profitability in Specialty Crops”, the Clean WateR3 team will assist the grower decision-making process by providing science-based information on nutrient, pathogen, and pesticide fate in recycled water both before and after treatment, average cost and return-on investment of technologies examined, and model-derived, site specific recommendations for water management.  The trans-disciplinary Clean WateR3 team will develop these systems-based solutions by integrating sociological, economic, modeling, and biological data into a user-friendly decision-support system intended to inform and direct our stakeholders’ water management decision-making process.

The Clean WateR3 grant team is working with a stakeholder group of greenhouse and nursery growers throughout the United States.

For example, at the University of Florida graduate student George Grant is collecting data on removal of paclobutrazol, a highly persistent plant growth regulator chemical, from recirculated water using granular activated carbon (GAC) filters. This is being done in both research greenhouses and in a commercial site. The GAC filters can remove more than 90% of chemical residues, and are proving to be a cost-effective treatment method.

 

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